It is 6.40pm and the matatu is packed. A woman two seats ahead starts crying quietly into her phone, trying not to be heard. No one turns. No one asks. The tout collects fare as if nothing is happening, and within a minute, everyone’s eyes are back on their phones. This is not because Kenyans do not care. It is because almost none of us have ever been shown what to do in that exact moment.
The same freeze happens elsewhere. A boda boda rider is often the first person at the scene of an accident, long before an ambulance can reach. A chama member goes quiet in the WhatsApp group after a business collapses, and nobody quite knows how to respond beyond “pole.” A family holds a harambee to raise funeral costs while still too numb with grief to speak. In each case, someone needed a steady human response, and the people around them, however caring, did not know how to give it.
Why We Avoid Helping, Even When We Want To
If you have ever hesitated before responding to someone’s pain, you are not alone. A few fears quietly hold most of us back, and in Kenya, they often carry a distinctly local shape.
“What if I say the wrong thing?”
Many people worry that the wrong sentence will deepen the pain, so they say nothing at all, or quickly change the subject to something lighter.
“Wacha kulia, kuwa mwanaume.” / “Just be strong.”
This one runs deep, especially for men and boys raised to equate composure with strength. It teaches people to swallow pain rather than name it, which leaves both the struggling person and the people around them without any real script for what comes next.
“I’m not a therapist.”
Many capable, caring people assume that only a clinician is qualified to respond to distress. This belief, while understandable, keeps ordinary people, the ones actually present in the moment, from offering support that requires no qualification at all, only presence and the right approach.
These fears point to a real gap. Very few of us, in our homes, workplaces, chamas, or church fellowships, have ever been shown what to actually do when someone beside us is struggling. And when nobody knows, the silence that follows rarely feels neutral. It tends to confirm the very isolation the person was already afraid of.
Psychological First Aid: A Practical Way Forward
Psychological First Aid, often shortened to PFA, is a simple, structured approach to supporting someone through a distressing experience. It does not require a background in psychology or counselling. It rests on three straightforward actions.
- Look for signs that someone needs support, and for immediate safety concerns.
- Listen without judgement, without rushing to fix, and without interrupting.
- Link the person to further help, whether a trusted relative, a community elder, or a mental health professional, when needed.
What makes PFA so useful is that it turns good intentions into confident, practical action. Instead of freezing on the matatu, fumbling for words at a harambee, or offering an empty “pole,” a person trained in PFA knows exactly how to show up.
This is not a borrowed idea with no relevance here. The World Health Organisation’s mhGAP Guidelines Development Group reviewed the evidence in 2009 and recommended Psychological First Aid, rather than psychological debriefing, as the appropriate response for people in severe distress after a traumatic event. WHO later published its own field guide on the approach, since endorsed by bodies including the Inter-Agency Standing Committee and the Sphere Project. Locally, the Kenya Mental Health Policy 2015-2030 and the Kenya Mental Health Action Plan 2021-2025 name the same shortage PFA is designed to close: too few people equipped to respond when someone nearby is struggling, and too much of that need falling outside formal clinical settings. PFA sits squarely inside that gap, a globally recognised, evidence-informed standard, put to work in Kenyan homes, workplaces, and communities.
Who Should Learn Psychological First Aid
Psychological First Aid is not reserved for healthcare workers or crisis responders. It is for:
- Chama treasurers and members, often the first to notice when someone has gone quiet
- Church elders, fellowship leaders, and youth pastors
- Boda boda riders, matatu crew, and market traders, frequently first on the scene
- Parents, teachers, and school staff
- HR teams and managers building psychologically safer workplaces
In truth, PFA is for anyone who has ever sat two seats away from someone crying and wished they knew what to do, which is to say, nearly everyone.
Becoming Someone Who Knows What to Do
The next time someone breaks down in front of you, on a matatu, in a chama meeting, at a harambee, you do not have to freeze, and you do not have to reach for “pole” because nothing better comes to mind. You can learn a simple, human way to show up, grounded in genuine care and backed by a practical, globally tested method.
That is what the Psychological First Aid course at Convo Academy is built to teach. Over the coming days, we will walk through what PFA actually involves, where it applies in everyday Kenyan life, and why it is fast becoming an essential skill for workplaces, schools, churches, and communities across the country.
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